Legal translation

Legal translation is one of the most prominent areas of translation specialization, not only in terms of market volume and professional recognition, but also as regards its methodological specificity and the (inter)disciplinary development of Legal Translation Studies (LTS). One of the distinctive features of this specialization is the high variability of the texts and legal conditions that determine the role of translation itself in each communicative situation, i.e. its communicative priorities between or within legal systems, according to the conventions of specific branches of law and legal genres at the national and international levels. As this legal dimension permeates all facets of life and society, the study of the translation of legal texts is also characterized by the high degree of thematic diversity and discursive hybridity of such texts. These features and the concomitant issues of asymmetry between legal traditions call for specific methods that intersect with legal studies, especially through comparative law. This entry first examines the vast scope and multidimensional nature of legal translation as an expert activity. It then discusses the connections with other related concepts, such as official translation and institutional translation, and illustrates the practical challenges of striving for quality in this field. Finally, it provides an overview of the main themes and approaches in LTS, including (predominantly corpus-based) research on terminological issues and other cross-cutting aspects in settings of primary interest